Ah, Asian mums and their love for rotans. Even in 2017, parental caning as a form of punishment is still very much alive in Singaporean homes… and even in public, as you might have seen in a recent viral video.
In case you’re out of the loop, a videoclip taken at Block 410 in Jurong West on May 16 showed a mother caning her young daughter in public, with the contents of the latter’s school bag scattered on the ground. The girl’s father also entered the fray by grabbing what appeared to be a tree branch and using it to hit the girl a couple of times.
Police were called in, and the cops spoke to the parents before leaving, advising them not to cane their child in public as it might cause alarm.
Following the uproar over such a public display of tiger-mum disciplinary measures, the mother in subject has since issued a written letter to the media to apologize for her behavior, according to The Straits Times.
Signing off as “a repentant mother”, the woman explained that she discovered her daughter had lied to her about doing her homework. The fierce mum was also angry that her daughter’s test grades had dropped due to careless mistakes. The young girl admitted that she did not check her papers correctly for the “glaring” errors.
It was during a car ride to her mother’s house that the woman “exploded” and meted out the punishment in public, as her mother forbade the caning of grandchildren in their house.
“I had tried to choose a deserted corner to discipline her as my intention is not to publicly humiliate her, but my girl cried very loudly,” she wrote. The woman then asked her husband to do the caning, as she was not able to control herself.
“Out of his love for me, he gave four strokes but some missed my girl. He told her she should be obedient and not run away when punishments are meted out and we talked to her after she put her bag and came out of the car, which the video did not capture,” she wrote in the letter.
It was only when she watched the viral clip that she realized her mistake, and — with netizens’ suggestions — is considering to seek help from counsellors to work out her expectations and disciplinary methods.
Admitting that she was a “very strict mother”, she assured the public that her children were not abused, and hoped that the media would stop pursuing the matter with her family.
“If you are really concerned about our children, please give us the space,” she wrote.
